Letter to the Editor: Dublin’s dominance an own goal for the GAA
The headings on the pages of Monday’s newspapers proclaimed Dublin’s record ninth provincial title in a row. That together with the possibility they will win five in a row in the All-Ireland championship is symptomatic of the lack of awareness of the danger to the amateur status of the GAA that the present Dublin situation poses.
The GAA is based on the ideal of people playing for their local area and county no matter how successful or unsuccessful the area or county is. The present situation, however, sees an area of the country comprising four counties — Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, South Dublin and Fingal — with a population of 1.3m and access to almost limitless resources.
To put that in perspective Leitrim — another area competing in the same competition — has a population of around 30,000 and has very limited resources.
Because of its access to almost limitless resources, Dublin does not qualify under the heading amateur any more. If the GAA is to maintain its amateur status it has to follow at a minimum the convention that each county has a team.
That means four teams in the present Dublin area. Each would still be among the top counties in terms of population.
